Santa Fe – The Santa Fe River is the nation’s most endangered waterway, according to a report issued by a nonprofit Washington-based advocacy group.
American Rivers put the slender 46-mile river ahead of nine others that rounded out the top 10 list for 2007. The Santa Fe, according to the group’s website, “has not been a river at all for most of the year, but a dry, weed-choked ditch – blocked by upstream dams.”
David Groenfeldt, executive director of the Santa Fe Watershed Association, said he hopes the list, released this week, will drum up more support for returning a regular water flow to the river, a goal he shares with the city’s mayor and many others.
Mayor David Coss said the listing means there’s hope for restoring the river.
“The status of ‘most endangered’ means the river is still there, and if the community has the political will to do it, we can bring it back to a healthy ecosystem,” he said.
River-advocacy groups around the country nominate waterways for American Rivers’ endangered list. A group of scientists and American Rivers staffers evaluates the nominations based on significance of the river as a resource, the magnitude of the threat and the nature of a major decision that could affect the river in the next year.
Rebecca Wodder, president of the group, said the Santa Fe is an example of a desert waterway facing dual threats of human water consumption and the potential for drought.
“We see in the Santa Fe River a tremendous opportunity for a desert river,” Wodder said.
